Stories Come to Life, as the Human Element Meets Projection Mapping

“The Alchemy of Light” makes projection mapping more than a sculptural, light-painting illusion. It allows the digital motion image to interact with the performer. And the human performer is a big part of what makes this work. The project comes from performance artist by the name of “a dandypunk” (Joel Sebastian), and the Cirque du Soleil-veteran performer makes his movement as dazzling as the projected imagery.

The work is in turns fanciful and poignant, and the dance of imagery and the dance of man blur into one another in rapid-fire succession. As with the practice of magician Marco Tempest, the effect requires practiced choreography, not just technology, a ballet of illusion.

A dandypunk – the human here matters as much as the projected imagery. Photo courtesy the artist.

More details of this work:

A few excerpts from a 10 minute, one man live performance piece.
Using projection mapping onto street furniture, a dandypunk travels through various fantastical worlds, interacting with strange characters and treacherous landscapes, in the hope of unfolding the secrets and learning the techniques from the ancient book of “The Alchemy of Light”.
Direction, illustration, animation* and performance of all characters* by a dandypunk
*Tentacle animation by RUBBISHBELT.COM
*Falling silhouetted man performed by Roger Fojas
Eternal thanks to facebook.com/dollskills for many many things..
Music by Edit -Antsfacebook.com/adandypunk

“The Alchemy of Light” is by far my favorite, but a dandypunk is busy with other projects, sometimes involving other Cirque performers. And I enjoy the sentiments of the punk inspiration video. (I only wish I could work out exactly what the punk, DIY aesthetic means for all these laptops us artists use. PunkBook Pro?)

Enter these other, imaginative worlds at the artist’s site – and get plenty more reminders of why even in this age of digital effects, physical, human discipline and the body can be as important as the incorporeal projections of our machines:

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